Vocab Project

by Alec Sabatini

1. Organism- any living thing

2. Population- the amount of organisms that are in an ecosystem

3. Community- two or more populations of the same or different species inhabiting the same geographical region

4. Ecosystem- an area of land that organisms inhabit

5. Biome- a major biotic community

6. Biosphere- region of the earth that living things inhabit.

7. Food chain- a graph that shows how organisms depend on eachother

8. Producer- an organism that gets its energy from the sun providing energy for its consumers

9. Primary consumer- an herbavore that is second on the food chain

9.1. Secondary consumer- a carnivore that gets its energy from other animals

9.1.1. Tertiary consumer- consumer that is at the top of the food chain

10. Rain forest- forest with high annual rainfall

10.1. Temperate deciduous forest- trees that loose their leaves every year

10.1.1. Coniferous forest- mostly contains spruces firs and pines, most climates cannot support these

11. Trophic levels- position of organism of a food chain

12. Desert

12.1. Tundra

12.1.1. Grassland

12.1.1.1. Freshwater

12.1.1.1.1. Marine

13. biotic factors- all living factors in an ecosystem

13.1. abiotic factors- non living factors in an ecosytem

14. Biodiversity- diversity of plants or animals in an ecosystem

15. Hot spots- area of earth that can become volcanic

16. Ecological succession- gradual change in an ecosystem caused by changes in communities

16.1. Primary succession- inhabitation of a recently barren area

16.1.1. secondary succession- reduces an already established ecosystem

17. Pioneer species- species that colonized before any other species in an ecosystem

18. Climax community- vegetation reaches a constant rate of growth

19. Limiting factors- a factor that controls growth of an organism

20. Carrying capacity- the amount of organisms that an ecosystem can take without running out of resources

20.1. Population growth- increase of the number of organisms in an ecosystem

21. Black Plague- plague in the middle ages that killed almost half of western Europe

21.1. Industrial Revolution- change from an agriculture to an industrial nation

22. Exponential growth- growth of a population without limiting factors

23. Sustainability- how biological systems can remain divers for a period of time

24. logistic growth- factors that establish an equilibriam with environmental resources

24.1. J-curve- graph showing exponential population growth

24.1.1. s-curve- graph showing exponential population growth then leveling off at the end

25. Population growth rate- the rate in witch a population grows

26. aquifer- underground system containing water for springs and other small water systems

26.1. water pollution- contamination of a water system

27. point source- single, identifiable cause of pollution of a body of water

27.1. non-point source- pollution from multiple agricultural sources